Melbourne Q&A with the Great Northern Hotel

We went to the Great Northern Hotel, number 4 in our Top 50 pubs in Melbourne, to talk to Alistair Carragher about being the unofficial home of football's west.

When did you take over the pub and what changes have you made since arriving?Took over GN just over 6 years ago, immediately adding more taps and taking off main stream beer. Installing extra tv's and 2 projectors we found people love the combination of good beer and sport.

The GNH is generally regarded as having one of the best beer lists in Melbourne. What's your history with craft beer?Prior to taking over the GN, I founded and set up the Feral Brewery in W.A, which opened in 2002, always having passion for good beer and more importantly no beer contracts with the big boys has allowed us to show case best beers locally and around the world.

How did the GNH become the unofficial Fremantle supporters pub of Melbourne?Freo has always been the pubs biggest supporter which started from a group of ex pats playing a scrimmage game then watching Freo vs west coast after wards. Reaching massive status 2 years ago when Freo made GF. GN became official home for dockers fan with channel 10 filming before the game live on GF eve. Freo always has had priority when it games are live even if Carlton are playing at same time.

How many are you expecting for Grand Final day and what festivities are planned (even if freo dont make it)?GF day is always a massive day regardless of who's. if it happened to be Freo vs WC would be massive for GN.

We at THH always complain there is not enough live bands at the GNH (especially with great spaces for them to perform in). Will this ever change?Unfortunately live music will never be a feature at GN, our liquor license prevents us from doing so. We had one of Australia best diggerdoo players, playing acoustic on Australia Day bout 5 years ago and had neighbour complaints.

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Starting as a simple spreadsheet in 2004, THH has grown to be one of the most popular hospitality resources in Australia. Our core team members, based in Sydney and Melbourne, have unique skills in journalism, new media, finance, academia, programming and computing, creating the perfect platform in which to connect venues with patrons. We also like beer.